The Kiss of Hell's Winter
by Morganna Venus Persephone
Summary: A young woman breaks into Borehamwood Asylum's and finds herself at the mercy of its most infamous patient. Contains vile rape and gory scenes. Resubmitted after much uproar over that fact that it was removed by some troll group a year ago XD. If you know this story already, enjoy reading it again and please, readers old and new, please review
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was a dark night. The trees swayed roughly in the strong easterly wind surrounding the old Victorian building making the branches scrape like wiry fingers along the glass panes of the barred windows.

The doors leading to the facility are heavy and locked with bolts and electrical key codes, the building having been updated some years ago.

The corridors are magnolia in colour on the walls and ceilings, the wooden floor a deep mahogany brown, almost black. Laminated signs regarding hand hygiene, carer support and group activities adorn the halls where nurses who no longer wear uniforms aside from an identification badge busied themselves between their patients and the seemingly endless paperwork which now is data-based on computers instead of handwritten in notes. They are no longer allowed to call their residents 'patients'; they are referred to as 'service users' now.

Occasionally the newly installed halogen lights flickered on and off along with the rest of the power, infuriating members of staff who tried to input progress notes.

"Shitty thing," the charge nurse exclaimed as he hit the screen as if that would stop it from playing up.

"What's up with the lights? I thought they'd all been replaced to stop this," another nurse asked him.

"Along with every other piece of electrical equipment, plus new wiring throughout the building. Nothing wants to work here." The charge nurse answered, picking up a selection of handwritten notes on a 'service user', "Perhaps she's right, that one in bedroom 11, maybe 'he' _does_ take out the lights so he can get her," he remarked sarcastically. Both of them started laughing at the absurdity.

Further into the hospital, the nursing numbers start to dwindle. Past more coded doors to prevent patients from entering areas they shouldn't, along corridors illuminated by the flickering of strip lights which hum in time with the darkness. The further back into the old building you get, the clearer the older characteristics become. Heavy metal doors enclose on what used to be padded cells but are no more, they are simply rooms like the others here but these ones are sparser and kept locked to prevent self harm and suicide. The nurse to patient ratio is higher at this end of the building for security reasons, but the halls are eerily silent for the nurses feel uneasy here and don't wish to travel the long distances.

Many of the bedrooms are empty save for a few which keep some of the more violent of the patients in them; most are sleeping soundly having been administered their medication and sedatives. In one cell however, bedroom 11, at the furthest part of the hospital, one patient squirms against her restraints restlessly.

It is no longer the practise of mental health hospitals to use such methods on patients but in this case they have no choice. The young girl inside has been bound to one of the old beds which came with leather straps and binds, these attach well to the old fashioned strait jacket they have placed her in. She is watched by a security camera but this too is unreliable, losing its electrical feed for long periods of time. She stares up to the ceiling, her eyes stung red with tears as she watches the light flashing on and off, jumping every time the room turns pitch black.

Her case is complex, she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of an incident occurring six months ago which she has not recovered from and is unlikely ever to.

"Where are my meds?" She asks herself, "Why haven't they come to give me my meds?" She is already heavily sedated, but without a last injection for the evening she knows that she won't sleep tonight and 'he' will be here soon.

The light flickers again and she screams in the momentary darkness, the branches on the trees outside tease her with their tapping, they sound like her pursuer, as if he is biding his time.

Her door has her name written on it, but does she not respond to her name anymore, she insists that this is not her name; the doctors suspect this to be a reaction to her ordeal, a way of disassociating herself from it.

She is known for self harming but the nurses and doctors cannot find a method; no blade has even been found and the wounds which adorn her flesh are too deep and clean to be the result of her fingernails. Hence why they put her in the strait jacket and bound her to this old bed; but still she manages somehow to cut herself and there are not enough nurses to watch her constantly.

The girl cannot bring herself to close her eyes. Instead she starts to sing quietly as the light in her room continues to taunt her, hot tears streaming down her face once again. "A cross upon… Her bedroom wall… From grace, she will fall…" she swallows, trying to relieve her dry mouth as she remembers how she came to be here, "An image burning… In her mind… And between her thighs…"


	2. Alyx

**Chapter 1**

"What are you, scared?" Kelly asked as she and the others began climbing the locked gate of the old asylum. The question was directed at Alyx a typical young goth aged nineteen, sporting a Cradle of Filth t-shirt which she had altered to make into a tiny tight top with no sleeves, a little black skirt which resembled a manga-hentai mini, black tights and some of the finest New Rock knee high boots you ever saw. Her face was white, partly because of her natural complexion and partly through the aid of makeup, her eyes ringed in black eyeliner and eyeshadow. Her full lips were painted a dark blood red contrasted perfectly by the silver titanium labret hoop she wore. She threw her pink Hello Kitty bag over the wall to her comrades.

"Of course I'm not scared, r-tard" Alyx responded as she started to climb the gate to join the other three. She jumped from the top of the gate and landed on the hard ground. She brushed the dirt off her knees and shins and tried to catch up with the others. It was dark already so a little dirt wouldn't show too much.

"So tell me why we're here again?" she asked Kelly who still wore a Funeral For A Friend t-shirt despite the fact that that particular band had only been good at the start with their first album and anything after that was mindless emo to Alyx. Kelly was naturally blonde and fit which put Alyx to shame, although she was petite. Kelly was a natural stunner though.

"We're ghost-hunting." Kelly said.

"Yeah," agreed Beth.

"C'mon people," Alyx said smiling, "If there are any ghosts here, what makes you think we're special enough for them to give a damn?"

Kelly giggled and placed her arm over the shoulders of Darren, the only guy who hung out with them, he was relatively attractive with his ash blonde bangs which he kept sweeping from his hazel eyes, "There's a notorious ghosty here. He usually always shows up."

Alyx looked up at the old building which looked like it was ready to crumble to the ground at the next gentle breeze. The others were joking and laughing as she walked along the wall towards an old copper sign, she tore the ivy from it revealing the name of this place.

"Borehamwood Asylum?" She questioned, "Kelly, I've never heard of this place before, and I'm quite up on ghosts. Are you sure there's one here?" There was something about the idea of ghost hunting in an asylum that made Alyx's stomach turn queasy.

"They call him the Jackal!" Kelly shouted at her, _Why are they given such stupid names?_ Alyx thought. "He died when this place burnt down in 1908." She approached her friend and began talking in her best Vincent Price voice "Some say that he still wanders the halls looking for victims."

"Stop with the Boris Karloff shit, okay!" Beth shouted, "You're freaking me out!"

Alyx turned to Beth, a look of disgust on her face, "Boris Karloff? Are you kidding me? Have you ever even watched a horror movie, Beth?"

Beth looked confused, "Well sure, I've seen My Bloody Valentine loads of times!"

"That was shit! It does not count as a horror movie!" Alyx insisted.

"C'mon ladies, don't bitch," Darren interjected as he reached into his rucksack and pulled out some torches, "We're on a mission remember."

_Some mission,_ Alyx thought as she took the torch from Darren and checked to see it was working. Kelly took hers and then made for the front of the old, deserted asylum.

"Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to how we get in?" Beth asked.

Without even hesitating, Kelly took the butt of the torch and smashed it through one of the windows. She reached through and unlocked the latch before pulling herself up and entered the building.

"I guess that answers that then," Alyx remarked as she too climbed in followed by the others.

It was musky and dark inside and Alyx could swear there was still the smell of burning inside. This place had obviously not seen the better side of duster for years, some of the cobwebs reached from the floor to the ceiling.

"Damn dude! This place is fucking epic!" Kelly said.

They made their way through the corridors with their torches on. Just occasionally Darren would run his fingers up Beth's spine making a ghoulish noise as he did. No matter how many times he did it Beth would jump.

"Stop it, Darren! I can't deal with no Gremlin shit!"

Kelly led the way past an old desk, obviously the reception area once and looked up to the wall which had several signs indicating the names of different wards and their directions in this huge building.

"So… Where's this notorious ghost you were telling us about?"

"Oh yeah, like I have a map with an X on it saying where he is." Kelly said sarcastically, "There's so many wards; maybe we should split up?"

"You're having a laugh aren't you?" Alyx came up and spun Kelly around by her shoulder, "This place is huge; it's a labyrinth! Look!" She pointed her torch up to the signs, "There are three floors to this place plus a basement, each floor separated in to three wards and that's not counting the administration offices and stuff."

There was a moment of silence as Kelly considered this, always the most popular of a group and automatic leader she thought about the options.

"This place has a basement? Okay, so we start from one end and make our way to the other, is that okay with you, chicken shit?"

Alyx turned and started making for the entrance, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Darren quickly moved and stood in her way, placing his hands on her bare shoulders. Hushed, angry words were said between them before Darren was able to convince her to not walk out. The young goth did not appreciate the language used by her so-called friend especially when all she wanted was to make sure no one got hurt or lost.

It was decided that they would start at the basement and work their way up.

The air leading down to the basement was stale and smelt of something not pleasant at all. It was also dark and every footstep upon the concrete floor echoed loudly, Beth held tightly onto Darren's arm refusing to even open her eyes as they descended the stairs. There must've been a leak in one of the pipes around them for they could hear the loud dripping of water landing in a small puddle somewhere in the darkness. There was damp in the air, it must've been playing havoc with Kelly's straightened hair. Alyx dared not touch the sides of the walls in case of fungus growing between the cracks, the very idea of her hand touching something damp and spongy right now was gross. There were no windows down here, no light could enter. The further down they went, the worse the basement began to smell.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and began walking through the darkness being careful not to trip on the strange contraptions that lay haphazardly on the ground.

There were several old fashioned stretchers in here, each with leather restraints on them, they were charred black from the fire all those years ago. They kept walking together, barely leaving five feet between them.

"Looks like some kind of storage area," Kelly commented as she scanned the rooms with her torch, placing her sleeve over her mouth, "Ah man, smells like the backside of Slough down here."

Another room lay ahead but the sight of it made Alyx shiver, the room was closed with a solid looking metal gate, a chain hung from it but the padlock was open. She looked around at the others.

"Only one more room left," she gulped, "I'm not sure it's a good idea to go in though,"

"Oh yeah, I've got a funny feeling in my toe," Kelly said sarcastically as she pushed past Alyx and casually opened the gate, which made an unsettling squealing sound, "Well? Are you coming or not?"

Alyx was felt uneasy about venturing further but couldn't resist the temptation to look especially as Darren and Beth walked into the darkness with Kelly.

The torches barely pierced the inky blackness of the cellar making it appear very claustrophobic. The room appeared empty, no unused beds, no empty boxes of medication, not even a pile of sheets. Kelly shone her torch around in a slow circular motion, but stopped when the light revealed something.

"Oh sweet Jesus!" She cried and dropped her bag. The others ran to her side and pointed their own lights at her discovery. Alyx gasped and placed her hand over her mouth.

"What's happening?" Beth cried, she still had not opened her eyes and now it looked like she would crush Darren in her vice like grip.

No one knew how to describe what they could see, it seemed too inhumane. Attached to the wall were chains and leather restraints along with the torn remains of what looked like a strait jacket hanging from them.

"Oh God, please tell me they didn't keep someone down here?" Darren asked.

Alyx gulped as the light from her torch fell on something else, she stepped forward, not daring to think that what she was looking at was what she thought it was.

"Alyx?" Kelly asked in a shaky voice, "What the fuck?"

Reaching into her bag Alyx pulled out a tissue from the pack she carried, she knelt down and picked up the item, not expecting it to be so heavy. She held it quizzically with one hand while she shone her torch on it with the other. Her eyes widened in fear as she realised what it was; a tiny cage, an old fashioned head restraint used in asylums for particularly dangerous patients. She dropped it which made a loud echoing clatter on the ground as she felt her gag reflex kick in.

"I want out!" Beth screamed, "I can't take it!"

_And Kelly calls me chicken shit…_

"For fucks sake Beth, get a grip will you!"

"No Kelly, this is fucked! I want to get out of this place and back home," she squealed.

At that moment a sound came from behind them. It sounded like a cackle of some kind but the echo distorted it, no one dared move, they were silent for a moment.

"That's it!" Alyx said waving her torch, "Game over! I'm getting out and if anyone wants to join me they're welcome to." She started walking out of the room.

"Wait, you can't leave. We've only just started!"

Alyx turned suddenly with an angry look in her eyes; she shone her torch in Kelly's face.

"Kelly mate if you wanna stay down here playing Ghostbusters all night you can do it alone. I'm not staying here. Plus, in case you haven't noticed," she turned the light to the tiny cage on the floor, "If there is a ghost here, maybe it's the guy they chained up down here and put that on his head, and if it is then to be honest mate, I don't _want_ to meet him!"

The goth turned and made for the exit with Beth and Darren walking with her. Kelly gave in to the peer pressure and followed them quickly, pushing Alyx into the wall so that she could take the lead, "Move it, goth."

"An 'excuse me' would've worked just as well, emo kid!" Kelly stopped, a small, wicked smile spreading across her lips. She began to frisk herself.

"Oh shit! I left my bag!"

"Where?"

"Back in that room."

Beth now started crying against Darren and he said he would lead her out. Kelly and Alyx started heading back to the dark cell and both stopped by the gate.

"Don't know why, but I don't wanna go back in there," Kelly said weakly.

"Oh for Christ's sake I'll go then." Alyx responded as she entered the room. She picked up Kelly's shoulder bag but couldn't help to look at the tiny cage on the floor again.

"Hey man, toss it over!"

Alyx obeyed, throwing the bag to the obnoxious teenager without even looking. Only now did she notice the bars of the cage had been wrenched apart. She shuddered as she looked at it.

The sound of metal upon metal drew her back, she turned focusing her torch light on where the noise was coming from. The gate was closing quickly, slamming shut.

"Shit!" She cried as she ran for it, but when she threw herself against the cold metal she saw Kelly wrapping the chain around it and locking the padlock over it. Alyx and Kelly stared at one another for this moment, both fuelled with rage, "Kelly, what the Hell?"

"Sleep well, sweetie." She turned to leave.

"You can't leave me here you psycho!"

"Can't I?" She smiled evilly, "Don't worry I'll come and let you out in the morning"

"With what? You got a magic key on you or something?"

"I'll get Darren to bring a crowbar and let you out,"

_Of course, Darren!_ Alyx began shouting as loudly as she could to her friends who were already on their way out.

"Don't bother mate, they'll be out by now. I'll just say you ran away scared shitless!" Kelly turned to leave, "Hey, if that ghost stops by? Take notes," she laughed as she left.

Alyx screamed with rage against the metal gate which refused to budge despite her best efforts. Aside from the light of her torch, the place was in pitch darkness. No one responded to her screams, no one was coming...

_Not good man, not good!_ She threw herself once more at the gate but it barely moved, _Fucking bitch! Right, calm down mate. Panicking isn't going to solve anything..._ _Great! Okay, _She checked her watch, _Half ten, later than I thought at least... Okay, Kelly will probably go back to the flat, get pissed, maybe wake up with a hangover around noon, take about two hours to get herself ready, another hour to get here if she walks briskly, which she won't, so do the maths... EIGHTEEN HOURS! Minimum!_ There was no doubt that Kelly would return tomorrow, she wasn't _that_ stupid, but it was still almost a whole day stuck in this dirty, smelly little room.

"Oh shit!" she cried, kicking the ground, placing her hands to her head and pulling at her hair in dismay, "No food, no water... And now you're talking to yourself... Great!" Then an idea formed, "PHONE!" she cried. She looked through her bag to find her pink mobile, which illuminated as she slid it open, only to reveal the dreaded 'No Signal' message, "No, no, no, no, no! Don't do this to me, not now!" She pressed the buttons in vain but the error kept appearing. Finally she gave up, slamming it shut with her hand and pressing it to her forehead, pushing her black fringe up, "Fuck!" Accepting defeat she turned her attention back to her bag.

_I wonder how long this iPod battery will last, that'll kill some time. I suppose I could sleep for a while too... And there's the games on my phone, it might as well serve me like that..._ Her eyes lit up as the light shone on a tiny metal tin in her bag, she took it out and opened it.

"SCORE!" She laughed, "Ha! Joke's on them, I've still got the weed!"

She scanned the room with her torch one more time realising with a sense of dread that the battery in it may not last the whole time. She'd have to turn it off to conserve the energy, _Good thing I'm not afraid of the dark…_ She preferred the idea of being as far away from the strait jacket and head cage as she could get so she sat opposite them, back to the wall, torch held between her teeth as she made herself a small joint. She turned on her iPod and listened attentively to Theatre of Tragedy singing 'Samantha', humming the tune with one earphone in. Her eyes occasionally drifted to the restraints in front of her. She grabbed a small notebook from her bag and wrote on a fresh page 'Hour 1'. She lit the joint, placed the iPod on shuffle, rose the torch so the beam landed on the head cage, and softly spoke "Okay, you son of a bitch. Show me what it's like to be you." She turned off the light just as Disturbed began playing 'Droppin' Plates'.


	3. Knock Once For Yes, Twice For No

Chapter 2

_11:40... _Alyx took another drag on the joint that she'd managed to keep going for all this time, turned on the torch for the twentieth time and began writing in her notebook.

'Hour 2: Feeling seriously bored. I'm so gonna press charges against Kelly when I get out. So far there's been no sign of this ghost, the Jackal, but it's early hours yet.'

The iPod fell silent after a good dose of Cradle of Filth and Alyx decided that now was a good time to stop listening to it; it was unlikely to last all night anyway.

She got up, wiping any debris from her skirt as she rose and walked to the gate determined to give it one last go with her own strength. She shook the metal with all the force she could muster, surely it can't be that strong, it had to be over a hundred years old. But her efforts were in vain. Her long black hair swung wildly about her head.

_Man, they really made these things to last, didn't they?_ She turned back, shining her torch around, the beam resting on the old strait jacket. _Okay, you win… Let's have a closer look. _She edged cautiously to the fabric, avoiding the head restraint with a vengeance which as it was still making her shudder. The material felt coarse and couldn't have been the most comfortable garment in the world.

"Poor sod," she whispered, "What the Hell did you do that warranted you ending up down here?" whoever this guy was, whatever he had done, was this treatment justifiable? She knew about the poor conditions of mental health hospitals in the early were overcrowded, forcing the level of care to drop and with it the reintroduction of the more barbaric methods, severe electroshock therapy for people who didn't need it, baths filled with ice to shock someone to their senses, even the use of branding tools, but this… To lock someone in the dark, alone… She fingered the jacket delicately, turning it this way and that until she found something, in the cuff of the neck written in dark ink although hard to read because of the grime. Alyx squinted at it trying to decipher the obvious doctor's handwriting.

"What the Hell does that say?... It doesn't look like anything… Is that an 'R'? Weirdest looking 'R' I ever saw… Ry… Ryan? Ryan… Kuhn? Ryan Kuhn… Nice name, I suppose, for someone who's been kept down here for a reason…" She turned and made her way back to her bag and sat down. She lit her joint once more; she was starting to feel pleasantly stoned now which was good, she wasn't one for feeling paranoia during her highs. Another toke and it was done so she stubbed it out underfoot.

_Well, _she thought, _I can either sit here aimlessly or I can do something productive with my time. _She placed the torch upright so that the light shone up to the ceiling, put her iPod, phone and tin in the pocket of her skirt, placed her notebook in her lap and tried to relax.

"This is such a bad idea," she whispered to herself, "But there's sod all else to do… Okay," She cleared her throat sat with her back against the wall and waited, listening for any sounds she may have missed while she'd been listening to music.

The dripping pipe still echoed its repetitive chorus loudly and the occasional scratching sound from behind the gate which could've just been a rat certainly added to the atmosphere.

'11.50 - Strange noises but so far they can be explained' she wrote 'that strait jacket in the corner is totally creeping me out though. I keep thinking I can see it move. I will now attempt communication with the spirit.'

"Is there anybody there?" She asked the darkness. Nothing. "I ask again, is there anybody there? Knock once for yes; twice for no," It seemed like a good thing to say at the time but as the words came from her mouth she could see the mistake, "Wait, how can someone knock twice if they're not there?"

A movement caught her eye which made her jump and take in a sharp breath. She reached for the torch and shone it around the room. Nothing. Just the darkness… She sighed in relief.

A high pitched cackle cut through her very being. She shot up in panic, back to the wall, gripping tightly to the torch. The sound had come from in here with her, she was sure.

"H… Hello?" She asked the emptiness, the only response was the dripping of water, "Is someone there?... Kelly?" Alyx's heart pounded in her chest as she spun round wildly looking for whoever was in there with her, it made no sense, there was nowhere in here to hide, "This isn't funny, okay!" She shouted trying to sound tough but her voice was breaking with her own nerves. She gulped, trying to relieve her suddenly dry throat. The laughter came again, this time to her left, almost right in her ear. She shrieked, hitting the air wildly with her arms. She backed herself into the corner, not caring about the dampness of the wall anymore or how cold the bricks felt.

She held her breath, hoping to hear better but the only audible sound was the frantic beating of her own heart.

_Don't panic mate,_ she told herself, _It's just a ghost… Ghosts can't hurt you…_ An icy coldness grazed her cheek as if to spite her thoughts, like fingertips edged with razors.

Alyx screamed at the touch and dropped the torch which went out on impact, leaving her in darkness. She fell to her knees, scrabbling desperately to find it in the murk as she heard something approach. She fumbled blindly, cursing with every step that came closer to her until she felt the cold metal. She grabbed it, turned it on and shone the beam into the face of the oncoming oppressor who lunged as she screamed in horror.

The Jackal forced her back against the wall with tremendous force, taken aback only momentarily by the fact that she had actually been able to see him, but this did not stop him. Without hesitation he began clawing at her pale flesh, leaving deep and painful gashes in her arms which she had raised to protect her face.

Alyx dropped the torch more from fright than anything else, but it did not go out this time, it merely spun round making the beam face her, so she could see the man who attacked her.

She screamed as she saw him properly and how he loved that, he had not had the pleasure of a woman see him for years, not since that girl in the glass house.

Her screams rung beautifully to him, making him slice her exposed arms more.

Her eyes fixed for a split second on the face of the ghoul before her and the image chilled her to her very core; grey, cold dead skin surrounded by waves of dark tangled hair which flew in all directions, a mouthful of viscous looking teeth, all encased by a rusty, metal cage with the bars pried open. He wore an old fashioned strait jacket but the sleeves were untied, the fabric was grimy and coarse. His eyes... She would never forget the savageness she saw in his blacker than black pupils...

Alyx tried to fight him off but it was useless, _Oh God! This can't be happening! Please God!_ He laughed at her as she struggled, trying to kick him away with everything she had but he only pressed his body closer to hers in order to feel her writhing against him in protest. He grabbed her wrists with one hand and forced them above her head, pinning her to the wall, he leaned forward, the cold metal of his head cage pressing against the flesh of Alyx's cheek. She struggled against him as she felt him getting excited by her, _Oh God!_

He tore at her with savage claws, ripping her top off her torso and making bloody gashes across her breasts. He liked this one, she was small, petite and young, she may have even been younger than the one in that glass house. He brought her close, savouring the feeling of her naked chest pushed against him, her face pushing against his cage, his face inches from hers.

"Get off me you freak!" she screamed as she battled against his embrace, she tried to push her arms between them.

He laughed at her pitiful attempts, he was going to enjoy her immensely if she continued to fight like this.

Left with no alternatives Alyx decided in the heat of the moment to fight dirty for nothing else was going to help her. She spat at him.

The Jackal did stop, he looked away for a moment and relinquished his hold on her.

_Score!_ Alyx thought as she slithered free of him and tried to run.

She didn't see how his eyes glared at her in a mix of hunger and anger, she didn't see him flicker out of existence for that brief moment, all she saw was him re-materialising before her. She screamed as he grabbed her dark hair.

_How dare she! Who does the little whore think she is? _He raised his hand and smacked her hard across the face, cutting her pale flesh along the jaw line and then threw her roughly to the wall.

Alyx's vision became blurry instantly, she groaned as she tried to push her body from the damp floor. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her legs would not comply so she began to desperately crawl across the ground knowing that there was nowhere for her to go, nowhere to run to.

The Jackal watched her for a moment as she crawled away from him, he watched the way the blood from her arms and chest made its way to floor, he watched how her black hair hung in a mess over her face and shoulders and found himself relieved that he hadn't damaged her too much when he'd thrown her. This little one was fighter and it had been a while since he'd had a challenge, the young woman in the glass house would've made an excellent addition to his collection but she had got away from him before he could have his way. He began to walk closer to Alyx, his image flickering as if on a poorly signalled television. Yes, the last one had got away… He would not let that happen again.

"This isn't happening," Alyx whispered, "This is a dream! Wake up, Alyx, wake up!" Even as she cried which stung her face where the Jackal has clawed her, she heard him approach her, heard him kneel on the floor.

_How accommodating she is... _He thought as she crawled further from him. He grabbed her hair, brought her back to him, and in what seemed like a single movement he tore her tights from her legs, he grabbed her little skirt, ripping it at the back his claws catching on her panties.

Now Alyx began to claw frantically at the floor, she dare not turn around, she didn't want to acknowledge what he'd just done.

_What a little slut she is to wear such a little skirt, _He thought as he grabbed her and dragged her to him, _But how considerate of her to wear it for me..._

The more she battled against him, the more she screamed, the more aroused he became.

"Let me go!" She yelled as she tried to kick him with her almighty boots.

_Oh, such determination, such vigour..._ No, he would not let her go, and now as he felt her rub against his member he let out a low sigh. He was ready to make her his.

He did not hesitate further, he released himself and drove into her without mercy.

Alyx cried out a bloodcurdling scream that would've peeled the skin from the very bones of anyone who was listening as the Jackal tore her apart internally and began thrusting within her. Again she tried to crawl away only to be brought back every time upon him.

It did not take long for him to finish, a few minutes maybe, it had after all been a long time for him and usually his victims would not survive the ordeal so it was best to make sure they would still be breathing as he finished with them. He had gotten used to using his bare hands where he would previously have used a knife and had been too 'enthusiatistic' in the past. To Alyx though, it had seemed like hours, every movement so painful and to add insult to injury he came inside her letting out a harsh cry as he did.

Alyx collapsed to the floor after that, exhausted, beaten and drained.

She drifted into a blurry, unnatural sleep catching a glimpse of the Jackal's ghost as he dematerialised leaving only the sound of his devilish laughter behind... _No,_ Alyx thought as the darkness crept over her, _Ghosts can't do that..._

This however, was only the start of her nightmare...


	4. Ghosts Can't Hurt You?

Chapter 3

When Alyx awoke her head spun and her limbs felt stiff. She gingerly moved herself and pain shot through her body it seemed from her toes to the ends of her hair.

"Uh… What happ…" She questioned as she had momentarily forgotten her ordeal, but the ache from her jaw and the feeling of cold metal round her wrists soon reminded her. This was no dream… "No," she cried as she pulled her arms towards her, they were locked together in a pair of rusty old shackles which were attached to a heavy looking chain and that was bolted to the wall., "This isn't happening, this isn't real... It can't be real!" She screamed at nothing.

Alyx rose to her knees, trying her best to ignore the pain as the movements of her body caused her wounds from the previous night to reopen and start bleeding again. She was crying and it stung her cheeks where her attacker had ripped her face, a mix of tears and blood began dripping down her neck. Despite this she had a determined look in her eyes and her survival instinct kicked in once more. She grabbed the chain with both hands and began pulling it with all the strength she could muster. She wrenched it, threw it, screamed at it but it was secure. She refused to give up. She ran as far as she could in the room but was brought crashing to the ground with a hard impact upon her ribs when the chain reached its limit.

Alyx gritted her teeth, breathing hard. She had not realised just how much her body hurt, internally she felt raw from the Jackal's abuse, and externally she was butchered.

_What the fuck happened? _ She asked herself as she stared up at the ceiling, she was still in the basement she was sure of that but her eyes had obviously adjusted to the darkness slightly to allow her some vision. She was not in the same room, she was sure. Why had she been moved? What had he done to her?

She pushed herself to stand up and looked down at her body, dreading what she would see. Her tights were in shreds, what was left of them clinging to her body only where her boots now kept them; she was still wearing her little skirt but apart from that she was naked. Her flesh which was normally very pale was now practically covered in dried crimson viscous from the many lacerations he had left on her. No part of her had been left untouched it seemed and she shuddered at the memory of his clawed fingers, how they had sliced so easily into her skin.

She backed against the wall in defeat and heard a clattering sound as her skirt hit the bricks. She reached down, turned her skirt around and saw that despite him ripping at the garment her pocket was still intact and within were her pitiful supplies. She unzipped the pocket and pulled out her mobile, it still worked, _Thank you God!_ But even as she slid it open she knew that the signal would be no better. The brightness of the screen was blinding after her time in darkness.

"Please work," she whispered as she hit the buttons, "Please don't fail me. Just a 999 call, that's all I ask" but luck was not on her side. She checked the time on the screen, "Are you kidding me? 10am? Fuck it!" She could barely contain her anger, "If I die here, I'm so gonna haunt Kelly forever! Okay, gotta think, how do I get out of this?"

There had to be a way out, but she'd need to think of it quickly, the simple fact that the ghastly thing, whatever or whoever it was had had the foresight to chain her up could only mean one thing: that he was intending to come back.

Alyx looked at the cuffs on her wrists and the chain that linked them together.

_Would it be quicker to chew through the chain or my arms?_

"Oh God, no! C'mon Alyx, we're not that bloody desperate yet!" She yelled at her thoughts, not caring that she was talking to herself. She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a cigarette from her tin. Her lighter like the phone before was dazzling in its brightness and she had to shield her eyes which made lighting the fag difficult but not impossible. As she inhaled the smoke the first real memories came back to her, how his cold hands had felt against her, inside her, the look of him with his greyish skin, tiny cuts on his face and chapped lips, that long wild hair and the cage that enclosed his head with his vicious looking teeth, "What the fuck was that thing?" She asked as she took another violent drag and blew it out quickly and then crossed her arms over her mutilated breasts in a protective manner. It was cold in the cellar, but she did it to stop herself from looking at the damage, even gingerly touching the flesh was painful, every inch of her body stung and she was sure she was still bleeding, "Christ Almighty, it had claws!" She had her suspicions but they couldn't be true, _Ghosts don't do that, they CAN'T!_ "Ghosts don't... rape..." she whispered as she exhaled smoke through her nose, "It's a guy, simple as that, just a guy... a messed up, sick fuck who parades about in a head cage and probably even thinks that he's the _actual _ghost. But that's beside the point; it's just a guy... Don't give the sick fucker the satisfaction of being scared of him. It's just... a guy."

Moments dragged by and Alyx paced back and forth across the room as far as the chain would allow her to go, occasionally giving it a yank, one time falling flat on her arse. Ideas for escape were not coming fast, not even screaming for help would work, the old asylum was way off the beaten track, no one ever came within a hundred feet of this place. So every now and then her mind voiced the original scheme.

_There's always the option to chew through your arms..._

She felt along the walls to judge the size of the room. It was damp, it smelt of something vile she didn't even want to think about. She fingered the shackles which were now beginning to rub painfully against her wrists, she removed her tongue stud in the hope of picking the lock with the bar but to no avail, in defeat she screwed it back into place.

As was usual for her in these circumstances, she began the routine sarcasm, making light of the situation, just in case the psycho was listening she would joke about it, bring his ego down a bit, "It's a good thing I wasn't a virgin otherwise this might've been a traumatic experience. Yeah, besides which I've had _women_ with more balls than that guy!" Neither comment was a lie and Alyx found herself smirking at her own wit, or was she just more scared than she dared let on?

Alyx kicked the ground as she paced. Her eyes shifted in the darkness, trying to look out for her attacker. Maybe Kelly would come back early -not likely- and if she did then she would scream to high Heaven.

Another frustrated kick to the ground, her foot hit something heavy that shot across the room and hit the wall. She followed the sound, knelt down and blindly searched the floor, maybe it was a brick of some sort, maybe she could break the chain. Her hands grasped a cylinder of cold metal. Her torch.

"Oh, thank you God!" she said as she felt for the switch, the little voice in her head voicing it's opinion again, _Wait, if he's moved you and tied you up... Why did he leave you the torch?_ "Shut up brain!" the beam shot to life, right into her face so she turned it off again, "Oh Jesus! That's bright!" spots of green orbs danced in front of her eyes for a moment.

She waited for her eyesight to return before she dared turn on the light again.

She turned and screamed as the torchlight settled on the Jackal's caged face. Alyx fell to the floor but gripped the torch with all the strength she had and pushed herself to the wall with her feet.

Her attacker barely moved, he looked down at the tiny creature before him as if studying an interesting specimen.

"Okay mate," Alyx said trying to sound tough, "I really think you should let me go before I kick your arse!" He uttered no sound, "I mean it! I can kick you bloody hard with these and don't think I won't do it." She shone the light on her enormous New Rocks.

With a trembling hand she rose the torch back up so the beam rested on his face. It did not seem to bother him; his eyes not even dilating. _That's not right… No need to be scared, it's just a guy,_ she assured herself again, she'd fought off perverts before… Just none who'd worn head cages.

"Just let me go man and I won't say anything," fear broke her voice and she gulped, "I swear I won't tell the police or anyone."

There was something very odd about this guy besides the weird dress sense. She noticed how his hair seemed to move as if caught in a light breeze, but there was no breeze down here; his cold, dead, grey eyes with no dilation of the pupils; the way he stood silently watching her, biding his time… No, it wasn't silent. She hadn't noticed before but now it was there and seemed to make her whole head tingle; a cacophony of voices…

The chorus was deafening, many voices but only one really. Disjointed sentences echoing, reverberating, some whispered, some screamed, some laughed hysterically, all of them spoken much too quickly, it was the way Alyx had always imagined the mind of a madman would sound.

_Such a pretty face…_

_Blood, flesh!_

_No, mustn't touch, that's what mother said._

_Fuck, bitch, can't tell me what to do…_

_Shut up! Silence, silence is golden_

_Rose Red, Snow White_

_Vaginal skin to taste and masturbate within_

_Fuck you!_

_Left in the dark…_

The mix of voices or _the_ voice, whatever it was, it was unmissable now, it was piercing, shrieking and it caused Alyx to cover her ears as her brain seemed to be scratched from within at the very way the sounds were mixing.

"Stop it! Stop it!" As quickly as she'd noticed the sound everything fell silent. She looked up at her captor and gently removed her hands from her ears. He had not moved, but his fingers twitched reflexively every now and then, those clawed digits that she remembered oh so well.

"Oh yeah, very clever man. What, you got some kind of sound system installed down here or something? You sick bastard, what the Hell is your problem?"

Silence, barely a movement save for the occasional flick of his fingers.

"What's wrong with you? Why won't you speak?!" She screamed at him.

A shrill laugh came from him, the kind of laugh that sounds like a hyena; he lunged at her, arms extended.

Alyx did the only thing she could, she dropped the torch and grabbed him by his oncoming wrists, and even she was surprised at just how quickly her reactions had acted.

A look of determined anger very quickly turned into one of shock on both their faces. Her eyes dropped to his wrists which were deathly cold, she held fast and now began to grip her fingers around them even tighter... There was no pulse.

His eyes fell to her hands, astounded by the realisation that she could actually touch him. How bizarre... No one had been able to actually _touch_ him, not even the bastards who'd trapped him, or the pretty girl in the glass house.

No pulse? That's not possible. Why was she still holding him? "Oh no... No please," her hands relaxed.

_She can touch me... The bitch can touch me... _This could not have given him more pleasure; this young girl had the potential be so much more than the other had been. She could fight back...

A sickening feeling in her gut caused her to let go of him, but he grabbed her by her wrists this time. The crazed smile returned.

"Oh God, please no. Please!"

He laughed, but his lips did not move and then as if to prove a point he dematerialised for a split second before her, appearing again with his hands still clasped tightly around her wrists but his posture changed dramatically.

It was at this point that Alyx fainted...


	5. Blue Eyes

Chapter 4

He watched her as she slept, thinking his dark thoughts as he pleasured himself, waiting for her to awaken so he could do all the wonderful things he'd planned for her.

_How long has it been?_

_Too long! _

She was a special one, very special indeed... She could touch him, but there was more... She was alive... Usually his women didn't last long with him, at best one had stayed alive until the third time and even she had died while he'd taken her. She had been fun; she had screamed endlessly for him. One of the few he had not had to 'silence'... but that had been during his lifetime. This was different though.

_So long... so long..._

He wanted her now, damn her for fainting. He wanted her, needed to have her, oh God, just to know how it would feel to have her try pushing him away.

Alyx moaned, was she waking finally? _Wake up you little cunt!_

She coughed but did not wake up. _Fuck it!_ He'd waited for quite long enough in his opinion. He rolled her over onto her back and stood over her. It suddenly dawned on him that he hadn't even thought to give her an 'examination' before, she wouldn't mind if he played 'doctor' with her while she slept.

He knelt over her with his legs astride her waist and took her limp head in his hands. He began checking her, lifting her eyelids, _Ah, blue eyes, my favourite,_ his attention suddenly turned to her lips and he finally took in the silver labret hoop in centre of her bottom lip, this was interesting, he fingered the hoop and the ball bearing. He'd never seen the like before, women only had their ears pierced if he remembered correctly, why one would feel a need to pierce one's lip he couldn't fathom, but it did not take anything away from her attractiveness, especially with those blood red lips, and as was the way his mind worked he began to wonder how having such a mouth accessory would feel if she were to be so obliging... He smiled wickedly at the thought.

Her hair was soft where it wasn't matted in blood, his fingers slid almost effortlessly through it.

Her skin was warm, and he could see the rise of fall of her chest as she breathed, and also the steady beat of her heart behind its precious bone protector, he placed his hand onto her chest, cupping her left breast and felt her heart pound through the flesh into him, _She's scared_, even in sleep the organ beat furiously, but that could only be a good thing; it meant her heart was strong, that she would have the strength to keep going. He leant closer and licked her nipple, which responded to the stimulation, _Even while they sleep, they're still just little whores, still just want fucking._

He travelled further down, past her stomach bearing the claw marks where he'd held her before. The blood had dried and was caked to her skin; when she awoke the lacerations would open again, and if they didn't he would assist in this matter; he liked it when they bled.

At last, he reached her hips and his icy fingers slid up her legs and pushed her tiny skirt up, _Always save the best till last,_ he thought to himself.

But before he could indulge himself in his curiosities, Alyx shifted. She moaned and coughed, spitting out the blood that had accumulated in her mouth when she'd hit the floor. She had felt cold, like the hand of death had been gracing her skin as she'd slept.

She opened her eyes to the pitch blackness of the cellar, her senses coming to life again, the smell of the damp, the scuttling sounds of little creatures in the distance, the taste of blood in her mouth, the feeling of those ghostly hands in places they shouldn't be.

"Oh God-Fucking-Dammit!" She screamed as it struck her again that this was not a dream. She began kicking her legs out as hard as she could, but an icy grip grabbed her by the back of the knees and forced her legs down onto her stomach and chest. The Jackal held her there as she struggled, and watched as she finally looked him in the eyes, "What the Hell do you want me with? I'm no one, I'm nothing, what do you want?" she pleaded. Her words were laughable to him, how could she think like that when it was obvious why he'd want her, "I didn't even know I believed in ghosts till now..." His head tilted as he listened to her. Right now she felt so desperate that anything was worth a try, "Seriously, what do you want? Maybe I can help you..." It seemed like a good idea, she'd often heard stories of restless spirits who needed help passing over to the next plane of existence, perhaps the same could be said of this poor tortured soul.

_Help me?_ He thought, _I don't need help, not when I have everything I need right here_. Alyx didn't hear him this time, but she did see how his eyes lit up. He placed her legs over his shoulders; his hand slid down and began touching her. Alyx clenched her eyes shut and started trying to throw her legs from her.

_What's wrong sweetheart, don't you like it_? He kept his thoughts silent from her

"Fuck off!"

_Because your body seems to be telling me otherwise_, his clawed fingers slid inside her and she bucked in protest.

"You bastard!"

_That's right, fight me... scream for me you little bitch..._ Alyx bit her lip, telling herself not to respond, freaks like this just enjoy it.

Her lack of response infuriated him, how dare she not scream for him. He did the only thing he could think of, he bent his fingers inside her and clawed her internal walls.

She did scream, his claws cut into the tender flesh much too easily. _That's better, much better._ He let her go momentarily so she could push her legs away from him, but when she was free he grabbed her legs again, spreading them this time and dragging her back so they encircled his waist.

Alyx brought her arms down to her chest protectively as he leant down over her and she began pushing him away as she felt him against her again. This only excited him more, but Alyx would never see how her actions provoked such a response from him. For the first time in a long time, Alyx was scared of someone. She had overcome fear, she could fight people, anyone who caused her fear could be stopped one way or another she'd realised from a young age, but this guy... A ghost... A ghost who could rape... She was scared of that; because she knew of no way to fight such a being.

She was warm and tight, but she fought him with a vengeance and that was the most important part of it, she was indeed going to be a lot of fun if she kept this up.


	6. True Colours

Chapter 5

Alyx was not sure how much time had passed since she'd blacked out, but that was not the issue, her mouth tasted of copper and she wondered how badly he had hit her this time. She tried to swallow her saliva but was stopped by a pain within her mouth. She opened her eyes and reached her hands to her face, she felt the cold metal contraption, she felt the leather straps around her head, and she could now feel the sharp edge of metal inside her mouth, pressing down on her tongue. She tried to scream but the sound was muffled, if she tried to make any noise her tongue would graze the rusty metal making her stop. She clawed at it, it must have a release catch somewhere but without being able to see what she was doing it was hopeless and her wrists were still shackled. She felt the metal parts of this thing again, what the Hell was it? She traced her fingers over it as she came to the part that entered her mouth, in her mind she visualised the mechanics of it, what it must look like… A Scold's Bridle… _He's put me in a Scold's Bridle?_ She screamed again, not caring how the device cut into her tongue, she desperately tried to remove it, pulling her hair away to reach the clasps that must be holding it in place… _How do I get it off? _She was panicking now, what was the bastard intending to do to her with his.

Suddenly he was there, right in front of her. She tried desperately to back away from him, small cries came from her as she tried to beg him to leave her alone. Instead he walked to her, crouched beside her and placed a hand over her mouth to completely silence her.

It was then that she heard the voices.

"Jesus Christ, Kelly, what the Hell were you thinking? You just left her down here with nothing?"

"She's a big girl she can take care of herself,"

Alyx's eyes grew wide in acknowledgement, it was Darren and Kelly, they had come back. She tried to call their names but the bridle wouldn't allow it, she could only produce frantic moans, but they were talking so loudly between them that they couldn't possibly hear her.

The Jackal rose to his feet and walked closer to the intruders as they descended the stairs. Who were these people? What were they doing here? He looked back at his little whore who squirmed on the ground trying to stand up; were they here to take her away from him? No, he would not allow that, she was _his_ little slut, no one else's.

"Alyx?" Kelly shouted into the darkness, "Oh my God, Darren the gate!"

"What?"

"The gate, I locked it, it's open!"

"So she must've gotten out,"

Alyx watched helplessly, she could see the beams of light from their torches, and their shadows. She looked at the Jackal with teary eyes and noticed that he was smiling that sick smile at her, he placed his finger to his lips and shushed her. Alyx's eyes flitted between the ghost and the silhouettes of her friends in dismay.

_No, no, no! _She yelled in her mind but her mouth only managed to produce a few muffled cries as her attacker dematerialised before her.

"Darren look!" Kelly's voice echoed, her torch light shining on a familiar looking item, she ran to it and picked it up, Darren recognised the pink and black design almost instantly and he knew for a fact that Alyx would not leave her Hello Kitty bag behind for anything.

"What the Hell did you do, Kelly?"

"I swear Darren, she was here. I just locked her in"

"Alyx! Alyx, mate? Where are you?" He shouted frantically.

_For God's sake! Shut up and listen! I'm here can't you hear me? I'm just here!_

"Darren, let's bail," Kelly whispered, panic striking her vocal chords for once in her life.

"What? No, we're not leaving without Alyx!" He was outraged, how could she possibly think like that, this was her friend she had left here and now she might be hurt or unconscious somewhere, who knew what had happened.

Alyx heard the Jackal's laughter and she froze in fear. Darren and Kelly spun round to where the voice had come from but there was nothing.

"Darren, please let's just go I'm sure she's fine…" Kelly stopped as she noticed the torn black fabric on the ground, she kicked it revealing the Cradle of Filth image on the front, ripped to shreds and covered in blood, "Fuck this, let's go!"

"No, we've got to find her!"

Alyx could not see her friends but she heard the cries and the laughter that came from the room she used to be in.

Darren could not see the ghost that stalked him which was perfect, he had every advantage. He hit Darren across the face and he fell to the ground. Kelly screamed, turning this way and that, looking for what had attacked them, she wanted to cry out but before she could she herself was thrown against the wall.

The Jackal proceeded to lacerate her with his claws, she could see him. She tried to struggle away from the monstrosity but he grabbed her blonde hair and made her look at him, she was another pretty one… Kelly threw her arms out at him, swiping wildly, hitting nothing and even if she had it would've been pathetic.

"What is it?" Darren cried at last having gotten his bearings back.

"Help me!" Kelly cried, "He's got me!"

Darren watched flabbergasted as Kelly was lifted from the floor by a force he could not see and then as the wounds seemed to magically appear on her skin. He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away from the wall. The Jackal let her go, he could hear the sounds of the chain in the other room, his little whore must be getting lonely and he remembered that the little one with the dark hair had put up a much better fight.

"Run, for fuck's sake!"

"What about Alyx?"

"Fuck Alyx, just run!"

She heard this from where she was, as she tried with all her strength to break free of the chain that held her to the wall, unable to call for them as the bridle dug into her tongue.

"No, I'm staying. I've got to find her," Darren cried.

"Then to Hell with you!" Kelly shouted in panicky response as she ascended the stone staircase, not looking back once.

Darren turned around, he hadn't been able to see what had attacked Kelly and him but surely he must've just been weary from the blow to the head he'd received.

In the distance he could hear the jangle of a large chain being pulled and for the first time he heard high pitched squeals. He quickly turned in the direction of the noises and made his way towards them. He held the torch at arms length, ready to lash out and strike with it as a weapon. He turned the corner and shone the light into the room which fell upon Alyx's writhing, naked and bloodied form.

"Holy shit!" He whispered.

Alyx squealed in delight at seeing her friend again, asking him to help her through muffled screams.

Darren came to her, reached for the chains and then saw the scolds bridle on her face for the first time. "Alyx, what the fuck happened?" He asked as he tried to remove the device from her head, looking for a clasp or anything.

The relief that flowed through Alyx was intense and she could've kissed Darren if she'd been able to, but the relief didn't last. She looked over his shoulder and saw the unmistakeable flicker of light and shape that was her abuser. She screamed, pushing her arms out trying to point at the thing as it advanced on her friend.

Darren turned around shining the torch light in the direction she pointed, but to him there was nothing, "What is it?" he asked, the fear in his voice evident.

The Jackal had been watching for a moment as the young boy handled his slut. He was touching her, feeling her..._ She's mine, boy!_ He growled, like an animal threatened by another stealing its meal, and what was this? Was she smiling at him? _Little whore!_

"Alyx, I can't see anything? What is it?"

Alyx was trembling, screaming, nearly convulsing at the sight of the Jackal with his snarling lips and look of extreme hatred in his eyes.

_He's right there Darren, he's coming, can't you see him?_ She tried to tell him, but the words were only fragments of what they should be.

The Jackal grabbed the boy by his throat, crushing his larynx with little effort. He lifted Darren off the floor who struggled against a demon he could not see and was brought crashing into the hard brickwork with a thud hard enough to crack his ribs.

Alyx watched helplessly as the wraith began tearing at her friend who had come back to save her, screaming his name as she tried to force her arms free of the shackles.

He would make this boy pay for touching his property. He would make him regret his decision to touch her. Again the ghoul crawled violently at the boy's body with his bone white claws which quickly became smeared in blood.

There was nothing she could do.

Darren cried out in agony as his flesh was torn from his body, as his blood seeped down the wall. Alyx's horrified yelps echoed his as she watched her friend get torn to pieces.

Flesh and blood was thrown in all directions as the ghost finally pinned his prey to the wall and lashed at him with his teeth.

Darren still could not see the thing that was causing his torture, he could only feel the pain as those teeth dug into his collar bone and tore the bone and muscle away in a swift movement that caused Darren's blood to fly through the air and splatter upon Alyx's face. It was like watching an animal.

_How can he not see it?_ Alyx wondered as she hysterically tugged at her restraints, trying desperately to reach her friend, to save him.

The wraith noticed her movements, she was getting restless, she obviously required his attentions again.

The final movements were quick and without pity as the spectre forced his clawed hand into Darren's chest, breaking the ribs as he sought his prize. He knew exactly what he was looking for and where to find it; the human body was reliable like that, good and predictable. He snared the boy's frantically beating heart with cold, dead fingers and wrenched the organs from its host's chest.

Darren's eyes glazed over and his screaming ceased, leaving only Alyx's petrified cries and the haunting laughter of the attacker. His body slumped limply down the wall and sprawled lifelessly on the floor. His dying eyes fixed on Alyx who now fell silent herself, the look in his glazed pupils said sorry.

Alyx fell to her knees in horror at the scene before her.

Darren, who she'd known for three years, who had looked out for her, who had never touched a cigarette or an illicit substance in his life, who had done well in school, who had been liked by everyone... Who had stayed and come back for Alyx... Kelly had run to save herself, and Darren had paid with his life to find Alyx...

Now everything went silent. Suddenly there were no sounds at all, only her own fevered breathing and the beating of her heart. She was alone, again… And this time she knew that no one would come back for her.

A feeling of complete hopelessness came over her as the tears she swore would not come again escaped her eyes. Her mouth now overflowed with the taste of blood from when she had tried to call out. She could hear her oppressor approach as he flashed in and out of reality and she looked up to meet him, to look him in his dead grey eyes, she wanted to ask him why he was doing this but her words were obstructed. Through the tears and the pain she asked him, "Why, Ryan?"

This was a strange turn of events indeed, she knew his name and he wondered how she happened to come across that knowledge. No one had said his name in longer than he could remember; what a pleasant surprise. He looked down at her helpless, naked, kneeling body before him, like an obedient dog waiting to serve its master. He could feel himself getting aroused by her again, even with the scold's bridle she was attractive, and now every sound that she made sounded like she was on the edge of orgasm. Her screams were delicious, but he wanted to hear her make other sounds now. He knew better than to think she would be anymore willing than she had been previously, but she was bound with no chance of release.

As he considered what he would do to her next, Alyx simply stared at him, perhaps she had reached him on some level, perhaps by saying his name she had humanised him slightly. Those thoughts were cast away however as Ryan pushed her to the floor and then as he phased between the worlds he knelt down, grabbed her legs and pulled her to reach his hips. She tried to get away, refusing to give up the fight, she tried to kick him but he only smiled down at her as his icy hands slid up her thighs and under her skirt. She began grasping at the chain that held her and dragged herself away from his touch.

Ryan pulled her back with force, making her hips rub against his arousal. He took a quick breath through clenched teeth as he felt her warmth next to him, her struggling was only making him feel more stimulated, it almost felt like she wanted it, and the lovely orgasmic noises she was making... He couldn't contain himself further, he let her struggle away once more as he released himself, then he grabbed her again and impaled her upon him.

Alyx's eyes clenched shut and her tears began spilling from her eyes, she screamed in the agony of his thrusts and also in the knowledge that he had beaten her again. She couldn't even bring her arms to her chest to cover herself for Ryan had made this latest attack at the limit of her chain, all she could do was move her body in protest. Her cries turned into sexual moans in his ears as he took her.

Oh yes, she was divine and judging by her attempts to get away she would survive him for a while yet, this was his third time with her and the fighter was still there. Oh yes, she would do good for a while.

Alyx's wrists had begun bleeding now from the strain of her bindings but still she could only think to get away, even as her hands made the chain slippery with blood. She refused to stop fighting, not realising that this is what he wanted her for.

Ryan relished in the sounds she made, who would've thought a scold's bridle would be so useful to him.

He breathed heavily, his claws digging into the already open wounds on her thighs to make her moan in 'ecstasy' for him more than she already was.

All the while, Alyx kept repeating one sentence in her head, _My name is Alyx, and I'm still alive..._


	7. You Won't Beat Me

Chapter 6

Despite her attempts to stay awake, tiredness took hold of Alyx until her eyelids could no longer stand the heavy weight of sleep upon them.

"No, gotta stay awake, someone might come…" she said with effort. She shook her head in the hope of relieving the fatigue that swamped her but it did not help, her eyelids began closing and she yawned as her body slid down the wall to the cold ground, her aching limbs and open wounds now feeling numb against the her sleepiness, "Maybe… Just five minutes" she promised herself, thinking how it was impossible for her to stay awake forever anyway, lack of sleep could cause a lot of disturbances in the mind; she knew that.

Her sleep was not empty: many dreams entered her mind through the darkness and she sucked her thumb in her troubled slumber, as she had done as a child when she'd heard her parents argue.

Gradually though as her mind drifted deeper and deeper, the dreams began to change. Alyx felt nice, warm and comfortable, away from the pain her body was in. Her dream made her feel warm and tingly and then before her in her dream was a tall, dark stranger, and even though it was clichéd she knew she was smiling in her sleep.

She could not see his face but she felt his kisses on her cheek, his hands as they touched her in places she liked, he massaged her breasts, kissed her shoulder, he slid his hand over her more intimate areas as his lips moved down her body, he licked her breasts, bit them softly. Or was it harder than she'd expected? It didn't matter, he was moving down again to where his hand was pleasuring her… Something cold touched her hip, something wasn't right… She could feel him, she could feel his tongue moving over her, inside her, circling her most sensitive parts… _No, something's not right, it's too real_… It felt too nice though, she didn't want it to stop, didn't want to open her eyes as he held her hips tightly, she felt warmth, burning, spreading from her groin, she felt her hips rising, she felt his fingers digging into her flesh…_ No, not fingers… Nails…_ The sensation of cold metal pushed against her lower body. Alyx bit her lip in the dream and in reality, she began to reach down and felt the dark matted hair of her lover, she gasped as he bit her now, hard, but still the heat in her body rose, she reached further and gripped the rusty metal, gasping, screaming in pleasure as her orgasm tore through her as she woke and looked down in astonishment.

Her fingers were entangled in a mess of long, black hair and cold steel above her groin.

"Fucking Hell!" Alyx screamed out before she let out a bloodcurdling cry, she pushed herself back with her legs as she kicked him off her, a successfully aimed kick brought her boot crashing upon Ryan's cage, hardly damaging but the best she could do in the circumstances.

Ryan looked up at her, he was smiling despite the blow to his head from her impressive boots, he licked his lips slowly as if savouring a pleasant taste.

She continued to squirm away from him, from his teeth which had bitten her, from his tongue that had pleasured her… _Oh God… He knows…_

She felt sick, vile and dirty, never before had she felt so… _dirty_… and she would've vomited if she'd not had an empty stomach, "Fuck you, you pervert!" Was all she could think to yell at him but Ryan only laughed at her; she had betrayed herself to him, shown him that despite the agony and torture he put her through, she was still just a little slut and she _wanted_ him.

She had tasted delicious and he licked his fingers for she still lingered upon them. He liked this, he knew what he'd done to her, he'd pleasured her to a point of no return and this gave him a sense of pride. Then he realised what this must mean… _It must mean that she wants me._

_Yes, it could only be that…_

_And her reasons for fighting?_

_She knows I like that…_

Her screams are so real, her struggle so desperate but inside that scared little girl is a woman who craves for him.

Ryan was already aroused from playing with his little girl, but this new realisation excites him further. Ryan advances. Alyx retreats, but Ryan smiles at his little whore as he grabs her legs. This time she will feel welcoming around him, she will receive him easily… What a nice little whore he's found, a little slut who he believes loves him and yearns to have the feeling of him inside of her…

She dared not sleep after what he'd done, dared not close her eyes in case he did it to her again. He could fuck her all he wanted but she was damned if she was going to let him pleasure her again. In many ways the fact that he had done that to her seemed like the biggest violation of all. It wasn't even like he was gentle, loving or delicate. For Christ's sake he'd bitten her there and still she'd been turned on enough to hold his face in her groin as she came.

She was not a virgin but she'd never reached orgasm with any of her lovers be they male or female before and now this would be the memory of her first, given to her by a perverted ghost who wore a cage on his head to stop him from biting people.

So she sat in the corner in a foetal position, her arms wrapped around her legs. She kept telling herself not to cry. Don't cry and don't sleep... That's a choice she knew would be right.

She began thinking about her life and the choices she'd made. It had been her decision to leave home, away from the past, to new horizons. It had been her decision to go to college. It had been her decision to share her flat with fellow students. She had chosen Kelly as a roommate, she'd seemed pretty cool at first but that soon wore off. It had been her decision... to follow Kelly here, to enter the building, to go back for Kelly's bag... Curiosity had led her here and bad decisions. There would be no more bad decisions.

With unsteady hands and blurry eyesight she made herself a joint, in the hope that it would calm her nerves. Her hands shook so much, she was cold, bloodied and now she was starting to feel particularly hungry. The thirst had gotten to her already and the taste of blood was stale in her, so she had done the only thing she could, she had drunk from a puddle under a leaking pipe; it didn't matter what kind of pipe it was or where the water had come from, to Alyx right now, it tasted nectar sweet.

She rocked back and forth now, inhaling and exhaling the smoke; it wasn't fair, she hadn't wanted to come here... but then again, everything happens for a reason she supposed, God has a plan for us all. This couldn't be the end; those lustful, dead eyes could not possibly be the last thing she'd ever see.

She reached for her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was 6'o'clock, twenty hours so far... and still no signal... She trawled through the contacts list, looking at the names of the people she knew. So many memories, so many people she'd hoped she would be able to say goodbye to when the end came. Darren's name appeared on the screen and Alyx's hand trembled as she quickly skipped to the next entry.

All too soon a familiar name flashed up. Alyx stared in silence at the three letters for what could've been several minutes.

Could she bring herself to do it? Even if she had the chance?

Their relationship had been a turbulent one even at the best of times, and since Alyx had left college a year ago they had only spoken to each other once and that was on this person's birthday… _They_ had either not remembered or not cared to return the favour to Alyx only a month ago.

She inhaled deeply on the joint before taking the next step, she pushed the button for options and scrolled down to delete, her thumb only hesitated for a moment before she confirmed the decision. Despite the pain it caused her to smile she still managed it as the entry was lost.

"You don't deserve anything, not even my goodbyes," she said out loud to no one.

So engrossed was she in this moment of closure that she did not notice that she was not alone in the room.

Ryan had watched her from a safe distance for about an hour now, edging closer only when he felt sure that she wouldn't notice, he chewed the cold skin on his fingers out of habit and he wondered what the strange contraption was that she held. It produced a square of light that illuminated the girl's face. Another cautious step closer brought him within an arms length of her. He stayed there, kneeling on his haunches, gnawing at the dull skin left on his fingers; if he'd still been alive they would've bled by now.

Ryan was well aware of his predicament; despite the insanity he still retained a lot of his former self, his intellect, his cunning among other things, so he was not unknowing of his demise. He'd found that being a ghost had its advantages; he could disappear into nothing if he so desired, just as he'd wished he could do in life when his obsessions and madness had driven him to his darkest moments.

He was not scared of the young woman before him, but he was wary. He preferred being in control for when he wasn't it felt too much like being locked in that horrid, cramped cell again, bound up in his jacket, having the straps tightened when he 'acted up'… His fear of people had not left him in death, but he had more confidence now that he had no physical form to be restrained, and this little girl even with her strange ability to touch him was not strong enough to stop him.

He peered over her shoulder and watched as her fingers seemed to manipulate the strange device she held, he saw her trawl through the list of names, she certainly knew a lot of people he assumed, then she stopped. He knew what she had done when she confirmed her deletion and he smiled as Alyx erased the name 'MUM' from her phone.

_So, my pretty new toy has mummy issues, _he deduced from what she said afterwards. He wondered what exactly these issues were. He had noticed the scarred flesh on her arms, most on them tiny white lines appearing on her right arm from the shoulder to the wrist. Ryan had seen self harming in the past, he himself had even succumbed to the desire to tear his skin away. He could tell her scars were the result of self inflicted injury by the angles and how the majority adorned only one arm, telling him that she was left handed. _Were they the result of your mother? _He purred softly as he took hold of a strand of her long black hair and began twirling it around his fingers; it was good to know that she had something in common with him, even if it was just having a bitch mother.

Women were a menace with their sly ways, mothers especially so he had theorised, even this little one with her cries for help and endless struggling, she was sly too for he knew that deep down she wanted him and enjoyed the rough treatment he gave her.

He teased the hair away from her neck without her noticing, _Don't worry sweetheart, I can make all the pain go away..._ he quickly leaned forward to lick her throat before he disappeared from view.

Alyx spun round and grasped her neck, gasping as she'd felt a tongue against it. Looking into the darkness though confused her for there was no one there.

"Oh God, please don't tell me I'm losing my mind, that's the last thing I need," She was sure that no one was there but she had definitely felt something. Slowly she moved her hand from her neck, noticing how her fingers slid effortlessly off the skin. She shone the light from her mobile onto them and they glistened in saliva.

She panicked and rubbed her hand on her skirt then rubbed her neck furiously trying to rid her skin of his touch.

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you," she whispered over and over again into the darkness.

_There's got to be a way out of here,_ she thought, _I won't die in this place!_

"You won't beat me!" She yelled at him although she couldn't see him, "Do you hear me, Ryan? You won't beat me!"


	8. Stay With Me

Chapter 7

She heard him approach; the low mumblings he uttered to himself were unmistakable. Alyx tensed herself somewhat and held the hem of her tattered skirt tightly. Funny how even in pitch darkness the eyes adjust enough to see. When Ryan came into view she looked at him with disdain as she spotted the cunning lust he spied her with.

A dry mouth did not stop her from attempting to spit at him, "What the Hell do you want _now_?" She expected his silence and the manic grin that followed, she did not expect him to raise his arm to reveal the object he held to her. She squinted in the darkness, "What is God's name is… Oh Christ! No way!"

Ryan chuckled at her response, _She likes it, she just doesn't know it yet._ He began making his way to her, unclasping the heavy collar with trailing chain lead.

"Oh no!" She yelled, she almost laughed at the absurdity as she backed herself against the wall, "No! You can fuck right off!"

He reached to grab her hair and threw her head back against the brickwork before she could stop him. She reeled in dizziness for a moment, not fully realising how quickly he placed the collar around her neck and tightened it causing her to choke. She didn't even notice him removing the shackles from her wrists.

_Oh, what lovely sounds she makes,_ he thought as he knelt down and licked her cheek, nipping the skin and taking hold of the chain. He took a good look at his little play thing as he circled her. _On her knees, like a good girl, perhaps she would like to use her mouth for something other than screaming?_ His eyes glinted and his head tilted to the side as a scenario quickly passed through his mind.

Whatever he had in mind, Alyx hoped it would be over quickly, the strength was gone from her legs almost entirely now, she was tired and hungry but the thought of sleep and food was sickening at the same time.

He grabbed the collar and lifted her up. Her legs buckled under the weight of herself though, _What the Hell?_ He tried again, but she barely had the energy to heave herself up, and the blood loss was making her dizzy, _You little bitch, get up!_ He hit her hard across the face.

"Oh, just fuck off will you!" she spat at him when she turned back.

Ryan hit her again, _How dare you speak to me like that!_ This time he hauled her up to her feet and held her there, choking her, she coughed and spluttered, pulling at the fabric of his strait jacket frantically as she gasped for air, _Oh no, not like this... Not suffocation, I can't die by suffocation... _It was the equivalent of drowning on land.

Ryan smiled as he watched her struggle, as he felt her hands brush against him, he kept her held up as her eyes stared at him in desperation, as she gasped and strained.

_Oh, this is fun!_ He dropped her to the ground, allowing her the chance to breathe again. Ryan's mind worked its magic, giving him an array of delightful images to choose between, _How can this be used to its full advantage?_ Was there something he could perhaps hang her from? No, she might die from asphyxiation in the process. No, there had to be a way of... _The offices, upstairs, they have desks... That would do..._

He lifted her up again, but not so high this time, enough to make her kneel. He threw his head in the direction he intended to take her.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, you sick fuck, I know the type of places you like and I'm not following you!"

_How amusing she is,_ he thought as he simply began pulling on the chain and backing away. He proceeded to drag her towards him, at times even making her crawl just to make him give her breath as the collar choked her.

At one point, her arms would not support her and she fell. Ryan was not pleased with this poor performance, especially when she should be so eager to fulfil his little desires.

He grabbed her by the collar and lifted her to her feet again, bringing her right up close to his face. He placed his free hand to her mutilated breasts and dug his claws into her wounds, reopening them and making them bleed, _Learn some manners, will you!_

He dropped her again and licked the blood from his fingers before he pulled the chain again.

Alyx was left with no choice but to crawl wherever he intended to lead her.

Ryan ascended the stairs, out of the basement, his image flickering still but his grasp on the chain did not fade unlike his insubstantial image.

Alyx couldn't bring herself to look, he kept dragging her upwards. When they reached the top of the staircase Ryan beckoned her to him with his finger, as if she was supposed to respond without question.

_Out of the basement,_ Alyx thought, _I can make a run for it now._ It was crazy to think it, but she was out of there, perhaps she could get away from him somehow, he wouldn't be expecting it.

She tensed, bringing her legs up under her, ready to sprint at any moment.

Ryan tensed, noticing how her eyes had lit up at being out of that room, what was she intending to do?

_Now!_ She screamed internally, all the energy she had left descended to her legs and she ran, grabbing the chain and yanking it from Ryan.

He released it and his eyes blazed in an angry playfulness, _Running are we? Ah, the thrill of the chase, she really _does_ love me!_

He gave chase after her as she ran through the corridors, the chain trailed behind her, clattering on the hard, cold floor as she went.

Ryan did not dematerialise for that would be cheating, the fun would be in catching her properly and then making her pay for running away.

Alyx couldn't remember what way she'd come from so she ran blindly as fast as her legs would possibly carry her. There was no time to read the signs in the halls; she could hear him chasing her, getting closer with every second. She rounded the corner, not expecting the dead end that would she would hit with a full impact.

As she fell to the floor, she heard him getting closer, she looked up and saw him as if he were on the ceiling running to her. He grabbed her quickly, pulling her up and against him, _Caught you,_ he giggled. Alyx didn't want to cry but couldn't help it, _Oh, don't cry sweetheart, let's find somewhere quiet..._ He carried her this time, for it would take too long to wait for her to crawl.

He placed her on the desk roughly. Her legs hung off the edge which was ideal for him, she was lying at just the right height for him to take her lying down while he could control her movements.

Ryan took her by force, hardly even waiting for her to respond to his lecherous groping. This time he could be rougher considering the angle and the way he asphyxiated her.

He choked her, but he did it effectively, keeping the pressure until she was on the edge of consciousness then letting go of the slack to allow her to breathe again. Every time he let go, she fought against him.

_Yes, fight me! _

"Please let me go," she choked, "Please..."

_No, little one, you're mine. My little play thing... _He grabbed the chain and pulled her up, bringing her body upright against his. She pushed her arms between them and turned her head, she couldn't bear to look at him anymore, _No sweetheart,_ he thought as he yanked the chain and now grabbed her dark hair which was thick with blood to force her head round, _I want to look at you._ He grunted heavily as he neared climax, her face only inches from his own, her lips no longer the dark red they had been but were full and trembling at the sensations, the only thing separating his lips from hers were the bars to his cage, but that would not stop him. He twisted the chain around his wrist, pulling her closer still, she noticed this and began shrieking at him, pushing against his chest with her bloodied arms, he smiled at her as his hand grabbed hold of her collar now, drawing her closer, she had no idea what he was intending to do but with his grip on her hair and on her throat she was unable to pull away, Ryan leaned forward, the cold metal of his cage pressing against Alyx's skin, she tried to keep her lips closed firmly but a simple pull of the collar made her inhale for breath. Ryan kissed her then, viciously with malice on his tongue. Alyx cried now, it was no use to bite him, he would probably just enjoy it, she resisted still, despising the taste of his tongue in her mouth, God only knows what that taste was but when she pulled away he brought her back with more force, all the while he brought himself closer to fulfilment inside her warm body. As he came Alyx clenched her eyes shut trying not to think about what he was doing, this was the worst yet, not only was he raping her but he was kissing her as if they were lovers, had she'd eaten recently she would've vomited in his mouth in spite and in gut reaction.

Ryan's lips left hers, a thin line of saliva trailing between them, his breathing was heavy and despite having finished he continued to move slowly within her. A distinctive change in his behaviour, Alyx had not expected this.

_Why is he staying? He _always_ leaves afterwards..._ She looked at him, feeling him still inside her, moving slowly.

"Stay with me." Ryan whispered.

Alyx stared at him with wide eyes. He'd not spoken to her before, not a single understandable word until now and this is what he'd chosen to say.

"What did you say?" She asked with bewildered tone, her voice was croaky from lack of fluids and her screaming. Ryan did not answer her, and for a while Alyx questioned whether she had actually heard him speak at all with that harsh voice.

His cold hands left her restraints which he had held without fail for so long and now he held the sides of her face, this was the first time she noticed how the claws he wielded, were not claws at all... it was bone, the very tips of the bones in his fingers, sharpened. He didn't actually have finger nails at all. This time he brought her close to lick her lips, his tongue darting into her mouth teasingly. She tried to force her head away from him, tried to keep her lips closed but he persisted. It had been a long time since Ryan had kissed a woman, a living one, one that could kiss him back even and he relished in this moment while he had the chance. She battled and resisted still but that was good, it was challenging, and in a way it was still rape; with that in mind his hands gripped her hair and he bit down on her bottom lip. She cried in agony as his teeth tore into the flesh, filling her mouth with blood, he stopped as she screamed and closed his mouth over hers again. His tongue coiling around her own like a serpent. The blood in her mouth tasted so good, it was a shame to stop.

When he finally let her go Alyx looked at him with a look of pure hatred for having been violated in this last possible way.

But as she looked into his eyes she saw his expression, for a split second it was not what she expected to see, momentarily the malice had gone from his eyes and behind the grey orbs was something else. All too quickly though, that same manic grin returned to his lips as he looked back at her. She thought about those three words he had spoken to her… _Stay with me…_ They echoed in her mind. There was a person there, hidden beneath the crazed expression. Alyx now remembered the room she'd first encountered him in with the cage and tore strait jacket.

The look on Alyx's face now changed and this shocked Ryan. It reminded him of a look Doctor Heathen had given him on many occasions. He took hold of her collar again as he tried to decipher what was going through that pretty blood stained head of hers.

The fight was finally beginning to ebb from her and Alyx knew that despite her best efforts she would not be able to keep resisting him every time and that if things continued like this she would surely die.

Her breathing was heavy and laboured but she looked at him with dark ringed eyes, bloodshot from tears and lack of sleep.

"I know you," She whispered, "it _was_ you, you were the one they kept down there weren't you?" Ryan gazed at her eyes which only looked bluer to him now with the red within them, he cocked his head to the right as he listened, "Your name is Ryan Kuhn," he gripped her collar tighter, enjoying her saying his name, his eyes glinted at the sound of every syllable as they rolled off her perfect tongue, "There's a man in there as well as a beast, I can see that in your eyes, Ryan" _Oh God, am I really saying these things? Surely this can't work..._ He pulled her face closer to his and began licking her cheek but Alyx persisted, determined to reach the intelligence she'd just seen for that brief moment, "Who were you, Ryan?" She asked as she turned to face him and then she reached her aching hands to up to his cage, gripped the rusty metal by the sides and forced him to look at her, the wounds on his face had not been more evident until now nor the rage behind his feral, crazed eyes, "My God," she whispered as she fingered the soldering and moved his tangled hair where it was caught, "What the Hell did they do to you, Ryan?"

No one had treated him like this, not ever. Not even his slut mother had spared him a simple moment of kindness. None of the women he had known had given him this tenderness, they had only wanted one thing and he had given it to them until they could take it no more. When he committed himself to this place he had expected some empathy for his ordeal but had instead received only barbarism from everyone... Except for Dr Heathen, _Fuck off, memories_... now here was a young girl, someone he had used and violated and _she_ was effectively caressing him, understanding him or at least trying to understand him.

He shook his head and looked away, this didn't make sense, his emotions were confusing and this angered him, she was just another whore, albeit one that he believed wanted him, but she was still just like the other sluts and undoubtedly had tricks and schemes just like the others. Even Doctor Heathen who Ryan had trusted had turned out to be...

He grabbed Alyx's throat and threw her to the ground, her head bouncing off the corner of the desk as she fell. The vision in her right eye went dark from the impact and blood poured freely from her temple. She managed to turn back to him, her face a wonderfully painted display of pearl white, ebony and ruby red but it was too much for her to recover, this time she fell back to the cold ground barely breathing.

He had not intended to harm her as badly as that but it was her own fault for angering him. He circled the body for a while noticing the unsteady rise and fall of her chest.

_So, she wishes to know what happened to me...?_ He thought as he knelt over her, taking her head in his hands and began lapping up the blood from her face, it did occur to him that he could take her again but where was the fun in fucking a comatose? _Very well, sweet thing. I'll show you..._


	9. Behind Those Eyes

Chapter 8

The world seemed to spin as Alyx opened her eyes. Pain enveloped her skull particularly on the right temple and she winced as she pushed herself up, a mix of blood and saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

"What the…?" She placed her hand to her face as the pain of daggers shot through her head, her hand was matted and the flesh sticky with blood, "It's okay mate, you're still alive," she told herself as she looked at her crimson palm. She rose to her feet trying to ignore how her head thumped from the migraine as she moved.

He had moved her again, "What the Hell is this, musical fucking chairs?" She yelled at nothing. Bad choice, her exertion made her unsteady. She fell upon a desk that she was not even aware of and a pile of paperwork slid off the wooden surface as she steadied herself. Luckily the gramophone that was also placed on the desk did not follow suit. Several pages flew delicately across the floor along with a yellow card folder that had held the pages together.

_Damn,_ she thought with a deep sigh. Making a mess was the last thing she needed right now, her mouth hurt, right from the back of her larynx to her lips which were cracked and sore.

She flexed her fingers several times to check for breakages but luckily for her she still had working opposable thumbs, so she picked up the pages. With the bulk in hand she pulled herself back up to her feet and shuffled the pages back into the folder, but something caught her eye.

A small article, thicker than the other pages with a matt texture and a grainy black and white sepia tone, obviously a small photograph. Curiosity got the better of her, her eyes narrowed in concentration and then after a moment widened in shock.

Once again she nearly lost her balance but held tightly to the edge of the desk.

"No," she whispered through dark cracked lips. Her attention now turned to the folder she held, to the name written in the corner.

Again she looked at the photo, the similarities were there, but could it really be?

Staring back at her from the photograph was the image of Ryan but his hair was neat or at least neater than she'd seen it, he was well dressed in an old fashioned shirt with a cravat unbuttoned at the top. One might even say he looked like a gentleman given the date it had been taken, "No way," she said in that same whispered tone.

Alyx placed the folder on the desk and opened it keeping Ryan's photograph firmly between her fingers.

The front page presented her with the introduction she'd never received from Ryan himself. It contained details such as name description and date of birth amoung other things.

"Ryan Kuhn, born 1887… 1887? This place burnt down in… 1908 was it? Yeah, yeah I'm sure; so that would make him… Uh!" Alyx clenched her eyes and threw her fist on the desk, "C'mon girl, do the maths… Born 1887, died 1908 so that makes him?... Twenty one? Oh my God, he was twenty one?" She looked at the photo again; she might have guessed that to be the age of the young man in the image but the wraith who stalked her? She flicked through the pages glancing over the handwriting that was only just legible. Doctors hand writing; it can be hard enough to read at the best of times, but when combined with the age of the pages and Alyx's aching head the scribbles were almost impossible to decipher. In a fit of frustration Alyx smacked her head with her palm and gripped her hair, "Focus Alyx!"

She turned to a new page titled Admission Details and tried again to read the phrases.

_Patient was self admitted to Borehamwood Asylum…_

"Self admitted? You came here voluntarily?" Given what she already knew about these places this knowledge confounded her, "Why? What was so bad you felt the need to be locked away here?"

…_on 13__th__ March 1907…_

"1907? But that would've made him… twenty?" Once more she looked at the photo, at the young man immortalised upon it. She turned the photo over and just as she'd suspected was the same handwriting.

_Profile photo: Ryan Kuhn_

_1907 on day of admission_

The photo had been verified it seemed by an unreadable signature.

"But if he was twenty, then…" Finally it clicked in her mind and the very idea of what she realised was sickening, "Oh Jesus, he was only here for a year! What the Hell did they do to him?"

She should've stopped there, but she didn't. She continued through the notes, the same handwriting appearing on almost every page.

_Patient was admitted voluntarily to the Asylum in the early hours of the morning under restraint._

"Listen mate, I might be nearly comatose but I'm pretty damn sure that the words 'voluntary' and 'restraint' should not be in the same sentence."

_Early indications reveal the patient to be of a misogynistic nature and very volatile... The patient has confessed to the rape and murder of five women..._

_Because of his known misogyny and aggression towards the fairer sex, I have taken measures to ensure my protection._

"Wait? What? 'Measures to ensure my own protection'? Well what the Hell does that mean when it's at home?" A quick look over the initial details again revealed the name of his allocated psychiatrist, a Doctor S. Heathen, "So, Dr Heathen, am I to assume that you wrote his notes?"

A cold chill suddenly shot up Alyx's spine and she spun round expecting to see Ryan's caged features. He was not there, but the coldness to the air still lingered, "You're here, aren't you?" Alyx asked, her eyes wide with fright. She could feel his eyes watching her. A quick movement from the corner of her eye made her jump.

_I could run,_ she thought, _I could just make a break for it now... _But running now would be running from the answers that were being presented to her now. She had to know who this man was, she _had_ to know why he had turned into this beast.

The more she read the more the tone began to change within the text. After a while this Dr Heathen stopped referring to him simply as the 'patient' and began writing his name instead.

Not only that, the language changed. The doctor kept making comments about his eyes and the gentlemanly manner with which Ryan seemed to conduct himself with and even called him charming.

_Is it me or is this all starting to sound a little gay?_ The tone was certainly becoming more poetic in nature.

_... Ryan has displayed no remorse for his actions and when shown photographic evidence of his crimes his reaction is one of pride. He feels justified in his actions. Please see audio evidence: 22__nd__ August 1907._

"Audio? They had recorders back then?" Alyx looked up and spotted the gramophone, "Hmm... I suppose they did!" She turned and spied a set of filing cabinets, one of the drawers clearly marked Audio, "Oh, I get it!" She now began to circle the desk, talking to him despite not being able to see him, "This is Dr Heathen's office isn't it? Okay then I'll play along. You want me to hear this don't you? Well fine then." It may have sounded full of bravado but Alyx was shaking.

Alyx fumbled through the drawers, not quite sure why.

"Please don't let it be here," she prayed, "I don't really wanna hear it."

She flicked through the dividers labelled with dates until she came across the correct one, it did contain the record as she'd feared, a phonograph cylinder, how the wax cylinder had survived the fire Alyx could not tell, all that mattered was that it was there. Taking hold of the cylinder with unsteady hands she walked back to the phonograph which had been conveniently left out.

_Why are you doing this to yourself?_ She asked herself as she placed it in, the only answer she could find was to satisfy her own curiosity.

Alyx sat back on the chair and reluctantly wound the device into life. A scream came from the horn, one of pain and shrieked at an ungodly volume.

"Jesus Wept!" She yelled in fright as she jumped, the chair leant back and Alyx came crashing to the hard ground and hit her head , "Ah, bugger it to Hell!", she rubbed her head and heaved herself up, picked up the fallen chair, slammed it on the ground and sat defiantly on it. The screaming had stopped and was followed by an eerie silence. She nearly tore the cylinder from the holder and looked up across the table, "You did that on bloody purpose didn't you?" Somewhere she could hear a distant cackle that could've been his laughter, although it could easily have just the deluded imaginings of her mind having hit the ground.

She replaced the audio device back; it squealed with noise and made her ears sting. With one hand she tapped the player, with the other she held her the hem of her skirt down, her legs were crossed tightly. The winding sound stopped and Alyx pushed the play button again. It crackled with age...

"… Interview conducted 22nd August 1907. Doctor Heathen interviewing patient 2808, Ryan Kuhn…"

Alyx very quickly pressed the stop button, her eyes wide in astonishment at the sound of the soft, effeminate voice. She shook her head… _Doctor Heathen? _She grabbed the folder again and flicked through the pages to the one she'd read previously and re-read the sentence that had struck her as so confusing.

_I have taken precautions to keep myself protected…_

"Oh no… No, no, no… please tell me you didn't do this…"

"… Good morning Ryan, how are we feeling today?"… Silence, Alyx cautiously leant her head closer to the horn to hear, he was there, he was breathing heavily.

"Not so good…" He mumbled. Alyx clasped her hand to her mouth; his voice was exactly the same, deep and slightly coarse from dehydration, only this time the words were said under a troubled tone as if he struggled to speak. His breathing was erratic and laboured. Her heart beat faster having listened to that one sentence, to hear him speak, to know that this was his voice when he was alive, to suddenly be able to hear this man in a way she hadn't before, it personified him and now it brought tears to her eyes.

"Are you having nightmares again Ryan? We can change your medication if you're suffering side-effects,"

"… No… No, I'm fine…"

"Ryan, would you mind not chewing your fingers? It'll be hard to understand you on the record." The doctor used a very gentle tone with him, concerned almost, "I'd like to talk some more with you about your crimes today."

"I'd rather not…" He struggled.

"Why is that?"

"Please don't make me talk about it," Alyx heard him gulp unsteadily.

"Ryan, you seem awfully jittery, has there been a trigger for this behaviour? Your mental state has been deteriorating over the last three weeks,"

He took a sharp intake of breath and with slight anger and frustration he replied to the question, "What do you think? I've been here five months… Five months!... Five months of your 'cures' and 'treatments'... Your tortures... Five months without a woman, it's… It's maddening…" His breathing was heavier now, and in the pauses she thought she could hear him holding back tears.

"I know this is hard for you but we must try and concentrate and continue with our session,"

"Yes, of course… Please continue…"

Alyx pushed the stop button and sat back in the chair, her arms crossed but her hand still covering her mouth from earlier, "Man, this is fucked up!" She whispered, suddenly a lot of things made sense, the light voice, the sentence she'd read earlier, the changing of Ryan's name in the documents, and it made her so angry, "A woman? A female doctor?... What the Hell were you thinking Heathen? Surely you could tell that the guy has obvious trust issues, you can't do this! You'll destroy him if he finds out and more to the point, he'll destroy you." She stopped and looked up with a look of internal confusion on her face, "Why the Hell am I talking as if this is happening in the present? It's already happened, you know the ending." His wild caged face flashed before her eyes in memory and again she heard that obscene laughter. She pressed on.

"Ryan, I'd like to start by asking you a very simple question; why did you kill those women?"

He sighed, his voice broke as he mumbled something that was causing him great distress.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that for the record? Please stop chewing your fingers," Doctor Heathen asked him.

"I said it was an accident!" The way his voice broke at that moment, for some reason it tugged at Alyx's heart.

"Every time?"

"Yes. Yes of course," he responded as if the answer was evident.

"You killed them 'accidently', every time?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I couldn't… I couldn't help it. They made me so... angry."

"Why?"

"Parasites... They all just want one thing..." His fingers tapped impatiently against the desk. Alyx's did the same unknowingly.

"Do you remember their names Ryan?"

Alyx gasped. It was a question she hadn't expected, "What?"

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Their names, Ryan? Do you remember what their names were?"

"No... They... They never told me their names," on the verge of tears yet again.

"Is that how you deal with it Ryan? By not naming them, does it, dehumanise them? Does it make you feel better about what you did?"

Suddenly the tone of his voice changed, it became much more sinister, "They _wanted_ me, Dr Heathen. They _all_ wanted _me,_"

"How can you be sure of that?"

"All women are the same." Alyx felt incredibly cold, "They only want one thing. And I gave it to them... but I was too much for them... but it was an accident... I didn't mean to kill them... I didn't mean to kill _anyone_."

_Oh God..._ Alyx thought as she listened closer, _Is he crying?_

Dr Heathen coughed uncomfortably, "Now, this is good. Perhaps now we can move onto something else-"

"No! You wanted to know about this Doctor, so listen. They loved me, they loved how I fucked them. It was good, but they screamed so much I had to stop them, they screamed for me, they had to be silenced. They tasted so good... Oh so good," His breathing had become much heavier now and Alyx dreaded to think what he was actually doing.

"Ryan please, calm down."

"Or what? I'm not afraid of the guards, let them come and get me!"

A commotion ensued as Ryan lost control. The sound of furniture being turned over and Ryan's desperate pleas came from the horn.

"Please Ryan, please calm yourself, you know what will happen. I won't be able to stop them."

"Then please Dr Heathen, give me one thing! Give me a woman,"

"You know I can't do th-"

"Please! I promise I won't hurt her, please just let me have a whore, please!" His cries were so desperate, Alyx tugged at her skirt uncomfortably and placed a crooked finger index finger in her mouth and bit down.

He cried with all his heart, bleeding out a torrent of emotions. In the background the sound of a door opening, several voices and a rush of hurried footsteps. Ryan screamed now as the orderlies who had entered the room grabbed him. He called out at Dr Heathen whom Alyx assumed was still there, he called out for her to help him, he pleaded with her and screamed, very soon after then he went silent. One of the orderlies made a passing joke about it and the others laughed.

"How much did you give?" Dr Heathen asked.

"Enough to fall a horse!" Someone laughed, "He'll be out for at least twenty four hours."

"That was unnecessary; get off him!" She yelled, "Just... just take him back to his cell."

Ryan was dragged from the room and Dr Heathen sat back in her chair, "He only has one more chance, I won't be able to protect him if he loses his control again," her breathing was shallow as she addressed the recorder, she'd obviously been shaken by the experience, "I will continue with medication and speech therapy. There is talk of a new experimental drug being used in Europe which may be helpful for him... but in truth I am concerned. He only has one more chance and Waler has warned that he will use more... forceful measures." She stopped to lick her lips and inhale deeply, "The strait jacket has been prepared for him. I just pray it doesn't come to that again."

The gramophone fell silent...


	10. The Lucy Shepherd Incident

Chapter 9

Alyx threw her hand at the device and this time literally tore the cylinder from its holder as fast as she could. Only now did she realise that he hand was shaking.  
"Bloody Hell," she whispered as everything began to sink in, she rubbed her forehead fingering the tender cuts hidden by her hair, "Oh Jesus... This isn't good mate! This is not good..."  
What had he done? Something terrible no doubt... Why else had they strapped him up and placed that crude thing on his head, perhaps he'd gotten to Dr Heathen...  
Did she dare look for more answers to questions she no longer wanted answering?  
Her hand seemed to move independently and she cursed herself and her own curiosity, it had done nothing but get her into trouble and it would probably lead to her demise.  
A new page in the entries slightly more yellow in colour was simply entitled Treatment. The majority of the text had been typed; it was a standard form with tick boxes next to the phrases and a few handwritten notes in spaces below. Ryan's name had been hand written by Dr Heathen in the corner.  
Alyx's suspicions were confirmed therein. He had indeed suffered during his time here and despite Dr Heathen's attempts to move away from these old methods she had obviously been fighting a losing battle against the stigmas of her generation. It would not be until the start of World War 1 that the treatment of mental health would be done differently.  
Ryan had been subjected to many varying methods of treatment to cure his 'condition'. Unreliable medication causing jitteriness and hallucinations were mild problems in comparison to him being stripped of his clothing and dragged to a dark room with a bath full of water and ice. They had forced him into the freezing water, submerging his head for several minutes at a time while he thrashed about against the lackeys who held him under. He was not removed from the icy water until his arms went limp and his lips turned blue. Only then had Dr Heathen had any right to intervene.  
As his condition worsened, so too did the treatment. His behaviour became erratic due to the medication, although the doctor had stressed that these were all good signs and that her patient was on the road to recovery; being detained and being made to talk of his actions, it was the equivalent of a detoxification, but instead of this being a abstain from heroin or opium, his addiction was sex and women. This severe restraint upon him both physically and emotionally had led to several outbreaks of violence.  
She read how he had clawed at the walls of his cell, stripping away his finger nails and still continuing to claw until most of the flesh on his finger tips had been torn away, revealing the bone...  
To her shock Alyx discovered that he'd been placed in an induced insulin coma for three days, during which time he was not fed, but was this part of his treatment plan or was this punishment? When he awoke from this he was swiftly placed on a large regular dose of morphine to keep his mood 'labile'.  
Nothing had worked for him.  
Eventually, much to the doctor's utter disdain for the practise, the use of branding tools had been considered as a means to 'bring him to his senses' and Alyx flinched in repulsion as she read the gory details.  
The list continued on; periodic starvation, the use of a strait jacket in extreme cases, isolation and seclusion under restraint, along with other methods of the time. Alyx could only think to breathe a sigh of relief in seeing that the box marked 'LOMBOTOMISED' had not been ticked.  
The rest of the progress notes she barely touched, her stomach was not up to dealing with the majority of what was written.  
She only stopped at a page with a single paragraph with the heading Incident Report April 12st 1907. Almost five months prior to the recorded interview.  
He _had_ done something terrible.  
On the night of 11th April 1907. Patient 2808: Ryan Kuhn, assaulted a female member of the nursing staff...

Ah yes, Nurse Lucy Shepherd. A delightful young girl with a spring in her step and a smile for everyone. A pleasant creature indeed, who was keen but inexperienced in the field of mental health.  
It had not been her fault entirely. She should not have been left alone that night, not so soon, not so young; but then again she should never have assumed that he was sleeping when she'd entered the room.  
Ryan had grabbed her and broken the key in the lock to stop anyone from 'disturbing them'. Her skin was so soft, her blonde hair was shiny and well kept.  
Lucy Shepherd was a virgin... and she had screamed so beautifully.  
Ryan remembered her with fondness, she wore a strong rose fragrance brushed into her hair, he remembered that, and how she'd had the courtesy to wear such a delicious set of black, lace lingerie for his pleasure.  
Ryan was too consumed with lust to listen to Dr Heathen's pleas for him to stop. Dr Heathen had been there, she had watched... Watched as Ryan had taken his victim without pity and with no regret for his actions. He tore into her with his teeth as he'd climaxed within her, ripping her neck open viciously in his excitement. The guards had not gained access to the cell until he'd finished with her. They 'removed' him and placed him in the padded cell and that is where he stayed.  
Amazingly, Lucy Shepherd had survived the ordeal, although perhaps it would've been better if she hadn't. The abortion procedure given to Lucy three months later was never revealed to Ryan and perhaps that was for the best. God only knows what his reaction to her pregnancy would've been.

"Oh God," Alyx whispered, head in her hands, "He's going to kill me... He's going to kill me. I can't get out. I'm dead..." The evidence was in front of her now, only one of his victims had survived his deadly affections and that was due to being interrupted.  
She slammed the folder shut and threw it across the room. To Hell with looking for answers, she had the ultimate one now, that he would not let her leave, that he felt no remorse for what he'd done, he would simply use her until she died as he had the others. A part of her wanted to know what had happened to Dr Heathen... Had he discovered her secret? _What does it matter? It won't change anything..._ That was in the past, and this was now.  
Alyx didn't cry, but simply sat and contemplated what she'd read as she twisted the ball bearing in her lip ring. The tugging motion this created caused her to remember how he'd bitten her lip, tooth marks decorated the flesh which felt tender and tasted copper sweet.  
They had locked him up; he had come here seeking help and they had done this to him. He'd been left alone in the dark, bound and restrained... A charming, intelligent young man by the doctor's own admission, albeit a cunning rapist, but by coming here he had everything taken from him. If the man wasn't crazed when he entered the Asylum, he had certainly been by the time he'd died...  
And what of that? His death? Did they just leave him here? The Asylum had burnt down; perhaps Ryan had even started it? No, that doesn't fit. Crazy, yes, psychotic, yes but the man had shown no evidence of being suicidal or likely to cause arson even in the latter months of his imprisonment. Maybe they had left him... Or maybe he had not wanted to be helped by that time; if that were the case then Alyx could hardly blame him; better to face the flames alone then surrender himself to those bastards again.  
_You're kidding me, Alyx... don't tell me this is sympathy,_ "So what if it is? It doesn't mean I care! It just means I empathise... I empathise... with the guy who's going to eventually kill me..."  
_No. No, I won't give up that easily,_ she could've laughed at the word easily, she'd given him everything she had to fight with, no one would've blamed her for giving up hope now, This isn't over, she thought as she hit the desk, _He hasn't beaten me until my mind snaps or my heart stops beating._  
Then she felt him, felt his cold fingers touch the cuts on her cheek gently and move back across her skin into her blood soaked hair, and somewhere within her gut she felt something, his touch was familiar, it made her tremble in an unsettling way. What the Hell was this feeling? Then it hit her... familiarity... his touch had become the only consistent and true thing in her life, everyone else had left her, abandoned her, even Darren –okay that wasn't his fault necessarily, but he was still gone... Ryan however had stayed, and had even asked her to stay with him. His attentions, regardless of the intent were real, true and most importantly, they were everlasting… If she stayed, he would touch her like this forever.  
She turned slowly, meeting his cold stare and his lustful smile. Suddenly he gripped her hair and dragged her from the chair, to make her kneel before him in a submissive pose, it was almost as if he were proving a point to her, how he was in control and there was no hope for her to escape. She looked at him, the anger she used to feel was gone but there was still disdain there, she might pity his existence but she certainly wasn't _that_ sorry for him that she would do anything willingly. She maybe on the point of collapse with that feeling of burning within her guts, but that did not take away the fact that he had raped and abused her for however many days it was now. His grip on her hair burned her scalp, his fingertips with their sharpened bone edges traced the cuts on her cheek, it felt good. How was it that this ghostly spectre had become the only permanent thing in her existence?  
Dr Heathen would've been pleased with him, he was sure of that. Keeping this one alive showed he had some self control after all; it had only taken him over a century to prove it. He always knew he could keep one alive. They've should've listened to his requests, he would've shown them. It also proved another point that they had failed to take heed of: she wanted him, if she didn't she could've surely killed herself by now; no she wanted this, because she loved him, just like all the others he had done this to… They'd all wanted it and had all loved it.  
She was starting to break in spirit which would mean her eventual submission; he could tell that from the way she accepted being made to kneel like this. Her eyes though still contained that fighting spirit, she was not quite broken yet, but perhaps a little more willing to perform other pleasures for him.  
_Don't be swayed, mate,_ she told herself as she looked at him, with his piercing crazed eyes and wild hair, _It might feel like this now, but the guy rapes and kills, he won't keep you forever…_ It was a fact, he would eventually kill her, either himself or by depriving her of food, water and sleep… oh sleep, it must've been nearly forty-eight hours since she last slept… The blackout after he'd asphyxiated her did not count as sleep in her opinion, _You're just tired, you don't really feel like this… it's a hallucination…_ that realisation didn't make it feel any less real though, even as he dug his thumb into the flesh just beneath her eye.  
Ryan laughed to himself as a pleasant memory flashed before him and the exposed bone produced blood from her, _Oh yes, she wants it, just like the good doctor wanted it._  
_I won't die her!_ It dawned on her then that perhaps if she stayed willingly, he would let his guard down. Alyx reached for her pocket and took out her pink mobile, she threw it across the room away from them.  
"You win," she said at last, "I don't know what I did to deserve all this from you, but I'll stay..."


End file.
